4-5 Greatest Common Divisor and Least Common …jwhitfld/math365/notes/Bill...The Intersection-of-Sets Method Least Common Multiple Find the least common multiple of 12 and 16. First,
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Suppose that a and b are positive integers. Then the least common multiple (LCM) of a and b is the least positive integer that is simultaneously a multiple of a and a multiple of b.
Find the Least Common Multiple of 6 and 8.
We are looking for the least number that is a multiple of 6 and a multiple of 8. Stated another way, we are looking for the smallest positive integer divisible by both 6 and 8.
The Prime Factorization MethodLeast Common Multiple
Find the least common multiple of 12 and 16.
Find the prime factorization of each number:
Take each of the primes that are factors of either number, which in this case would be 2 and 3.
Raise each of these primes to the greatest power of the prime that occurs in either of the prime factorizations. The product is the least common multiple.